stranded again
by kathos
Summary: gs, wip, where do they go now? follow on from stranded
1. Blood, Blood everwhere

Title: Stranded again.  
  
Author: Kathos  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them please don't sue.  
  
A/N: This follows stranded and is the result of statistical mechanics lectures, many apologies if it makes no sense. Sorry I've been harsh to cath but she was nasty in the last two episodes I watched, it made me bitter. Thanks as always to my beta Jules, thanks for the vote of confidence.  
  
Grissom closed the door to his office; the questions about their time stranded together were getting to him. He needed solitude.  
  
Grissom had always been a private person and though his work required him to have some interaction with people he was much more comfortable when it was just him and the evidence.  
  
He dropped himself down into the chair behind his desk. Sighing he glanced around his office, each shelf was covered with specimens and things ha had acquired over the years. He was supposed to be working on the case of the db found on the precipice. The lack of evidence was frustrating and Ecklie wasn't helping by pointing out the contamination of the scene by their stay. The only evidence was the fact that she was murdered; no more was known at the moment.  
  
There was a knock at the door, he was inclined not to answer hoping that they would take the hint and leave him alone. The door opened nevertheless and Sara slipped in closing the door behind her.  
  
"Hey, Can I take refuge in here?" she asked.  
  
"Sure. Do you mind me asking why?" he enquired.  
  
"They want to know what happened, what we saw of the crash. It's kind of getting to me. Why can't they leave me alone?" She sat on a chair opposite him. He smiled.  
  
"Ah, why do you think I retreated to my office? It'll be ok. Once they find out why the helicopter crashed they will stop asking." She appeared to relax. He was glad she was starting to feel better around him, he hated the distance he had created. 'It was necessary' he reminded himself. He knew the difficulties that would arise if they started a closer relationship were great.  
  
"You don't mind me staying in here do you?" She asked again.  
  
"Of course not. I never mind your company. In fact I welcome it." He said trying to ease the doubt in her mind.  
  
"It's just you seemed to be lost in your thoughts. You sometimes mind it. I mean, uh, never mind." She trailed off not having the courage to finish the conversation.  
  
"Sara, look if I have made you feel like I don't appreciate your company I'm sorry. I don't mean to be harsh. I just,"  
  
"Find interacting difficult." She finished for him. He nodded letting his head drop so she couldn't see the hurt in his eyes. She knew him so well, he felt vunerable around her.  
  
"Yes" he said quietly.  
  
"Gris, you seem to think I don't understand. But I do. Look I tried to do things slow. Ease you into how I felt but that didn't work. So I tried asking you out. That completely backfired. Now, well now I'm confused as to what to do." She said defeated.  
  
"It's the best place for a scientist to be." He looked up smiling. She smiled back, it was good. It was too long since he had made her smile.  
  
"So I've been told." She countered. She picked up the file he had been working on off his desk. Flicking through it.  
  
"What do you think happened?" She asked casually.  
  
"Think, Sara surely you know better than that." He replied.  
  
"Fine. What is the evidence telling you?"  
  
"I'm not sure. It needs more study before I make a hypothesis which will lead to a plan of action."  
  
"Are we still on the case?" A soft knock at the door prevented him from answering. The door opened and Brass walked in.  
  
"We got an id on the DB and an address. Are you coming?" He asked.  
  
"Sure." Grissom replied grateful to avoid the double meaning of their previous conversation.  
  
The drive to the vic's apartment was strained neither one wishing to resume the conversation they were originally having.  
  
Once brass and his team had cleared the place Grissom led the way for him and Sara. They split up with Sara taking the bedroom and bathroom while Grissom took the rest of the apartment.  
  
He found nothing but the vic's prints, no errant hairs, nothing. He went to assist Sara in the Bathroom. Just as he entered the room she was examining the bath.  
  
"Positive for blood." She called out.  
  
"So I see." He replied. She jumped, having not realised he was there.  
  
"Jeez, Gris. You scared me half to death." She shook her head; sometimes he didn't have a clue.  
  
"You want to go to the body farm?" He asked.  
  
"The body wasn't decomposed irregularly why would we need to go there?" She replied.  
  
"No. Do you want to go? You know I never have taken you." He clarified.  
  
"Yeah, Sure. When?" She said practically bouncing up and down in front of him.  
  
"How about today after shift?" She nodded her agreement and went back to work.  
  
She sprayed luminol on the bath asking him to hit the lights. The bath glowed, practically covered in blood. Then she did the side of the bath, the luminol slipping from her hand and the lid coming off.  
  
"Damn it." She cursed, and then said, "Er, Gris look. Is this all covered in blood or is something wrong with the luminol?"  
  
"Not sure." He picked up the bottle which had some of the chemical left in the bottom and put some on a swab he had used on his magnifying glass. She looked at him questioningly.  
  
"Well I know there isn't any blood on here." It came up negative.  
  
"Well we now know it wasn't the luminol. How much blood can one place hold?" She asked.  
  
"Shall we find out?" He said getting his bottle of luminol out.  
  
She was shaking by the time they finished the bathroom, the whole place was covered in blood. She had never seen a room so uniformly covered, it was almost as if the blood had been painted on then wiped off.  
  
The blood was confined to the bathroom, once they had collected the photos and samples they headed back to the lab.  
  
"Hey Cath." Sara said, entering the break room.  
  
"Hey, how's the case going?" She asked.  
  
"Bathroom is covered in blood. Looked like it had been painted on then wiped off. Gris is putting samples into trace." Sara replied.  
  
"You the boss now? Getting him to run your errands." She said, a little too harshly.  
  
"No, he offered. Greg isn't in so Hodges is there, I can't stand the guy." Just then Griss entered the room.  
  
"You ready?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah, you want to go out for breakfast?" Cath replied.  
  
"Er, no. Cath I was asking Sara. We are going to the body farm." He replied. Sara got up and bounded out of the room.  
  
"I'll just get my stuff." She called as she left.  
  
"You're taking her to the body farm? Why?" Cath asked.  
  
"Yeah, I've never taken her." He replied simply. Cath's brow furrowed at this.  
  
"You have taken any of the guys either. So why take her?" She countered.  
  
"Why not? I thought she would like to go and you saw her, she can't wait." He left the room shaking his head. He never understood people's reactions sometimes. 


	2. Body Farm

Disclaimer: Still don't own them. 

Spoilers: Sex, Lies and Larvae.

A/N: Thanks as ever go to Jules, an amazing beta who reminds me that not everyone has my twisted sense of logic. I promise the next chapter will get back to the case.  
  
...............................................................................................................................................

They pulled into the parking lot outside the body farm and got out of Grissom's tahoe. It was a pleasant morning the sun wasn't too bright and it would be a while until the day became too warm. They strolled in silence to the gates where Gris signed them in. They were given a map to the site showing the places where the bodies were. Sara looked at Grissom questioningly.  
  
"Why do we need a map Gris? I thought the sites were numbered why not just a list?" She asked the investigator in her at work.  
  
"Some of the bodies are difficult to spot they don't even look like bodies anymore. You still ok with this?" he enquired concerned, she saw things that were bad enough at work. She never liked bugs that much; she didn't need to see them any more than she already did.  
  
"Yeah, I was just wondering. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be." She replied. He started to walk towards the first body.  
  
"Ditto." He stated, turning to smile at her, he was rewarded with another smile from her. He wondered once more what he had done to deserve those smiles, ones that light the world up, not just a room.  
  
"So, where did you find the body that didn't belong here, you know the Kimble case about two years ago? You found the body at the body farm on one of your rare nights off. It may help with my knowledge of the contamination process." She asked eager to learn more. He was always his most comfortable when imparting wisdom, teaching helped calm him.  
  
"Sure this way. Look about the Kimble case. I'm sorry I was, well, a jerk. I should have been more thoughtful, it's just another example of why I'm so bad around people." He said shaking his head. They wandered over to the spot where the body had been discovered. The hanging corpse had been removed as the experiment was finished, as he explained this it began to rain, they took refuge under the tree.  
  
"Is there a body in this tree, I should be worried about?"  
  
"No, why?"  
  
"Just didn't want to be rained on by water that had gone over a body." Grissom laughed. "What? That would be gross."  
  
"The great Sara Sidle scared by a little water." He teased.  
  
"That's not it and you know it." She said taking a swipe at him. They stood close to the tree trying to avoid the rain as best they could. The uneasiness between them over the last few years going with the rain that fell.  
  
"You aren't that bad with people you know, I do have a tendency to stick around." She reminded him.  
  
"Glutton for punishment." He replied smiling but he was telling the truth, he was amazed she stayed.  
  
"No I just know you understand, me that is. Other people you are more clueless with. But that's ok most don't mind. Only Ecklie does and that is just funny to watch." She added smiling at the thought of an annoyed Ecklie.  
  
"Why, Miss Sidle you do have a mean streak." He replied returning the smile.  
  
"Griss it's not stopping." They had now been there for almost an hour and the rain was coming down harder now than when it had started.  
  
"Well, we could run for it but we would get soaked," He said, "But if we stay it might stop." He added this optimistically he didn't want to cut their visit short.  
  
"We can stay. We're fairly dry under here and you can just describe the rest of the body farm to me." She was glad he didn't want to give up on their field trip.  
  
"Well there is a partially decomposed dog you might want to avoid in the north-west corner. One of the owners is next to it. We are looking at cross- contamination. If a person dies then two weeks later their pet dies is there any cross contamination." He started.  
  
"That's your experiment isn't it?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah how did you know?"  
  
"We were discussing the pig in the blanket experiment about two weeks ago. I don't mind taking a look. The owner donated himself and his dog?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah, it was stipulated in his will and in his wife's she is part of another experiment." Grissom answered glad she was interested in one of the things he hadn't shared fully with those around him. It was their space for now.  
  
"Do you tape every conversation we have by the way, that was two weeks ago." Grissom asked jokingly.  
  
"No, why? Do you think that? It's not like I don't have a life." She argued.  
  
"Hey, whoa. I didn't mean it like that. Sara I like it. The attention you pay to the time we spend together. Look, just breath a few times before you reply to anything I say. You know I would never say anything to intentionally hurt you but I am who I am. I don't relate well to others, you're the only one that I care about hurting with my misunderstandings."  
  
She looked back at him as he finished this, she thought they had made some progress over the past few days since they had talked but she hadn't realised that it was already there. He cared about her, from what he was saying maybe he always had.  
  
"Ok. It's just, I've been here for four years and I'm still as confused as I have always been. What do you want us to be?" She asked tentatively.  
  
"I can't have what I want." He sated simply.  
  
"Okay I won't get into that. But what would you be comfortable with?"  
  
"Friends, like we were. Talking, sharing articles, you know?" he answered.  
  
"How we were when I first got here?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm sorry. I know you want more. It's just I can't. We have to be comfortable with each other first before I can even consider it."  
  
"Like this little field trip. You should teach more. You do love it, and it would mean less lectures for us." She said smiling. The downpour had stopped; she stood out from under the tree and looked up at the sky marvelling at the Las Vegas weather.  
  
He was on the floor before he knew what hit him.  
  
"You lied," she screamed, "You bastard, urgh." He looked up smiling sheepishly then slowly got up making sure she wasn't going to push him again.  
  
Above them in the tree under which they were hiding was the corpse of a young man, not very decomposed but enough to disturb Sara.  
  
"Look I'm sorry but you would have run into the rain and probably gotten a cold. Just looking out for you." He replied.  
  
"Yeah well I'm heading home for a shower."  
  
"Wait. We will head to the store get some lemons, just in case you feel you need them."  
  
"Are you saying I smell?"  
  
"Yes." He answered.  
  
"WHAT?" she shouted, threatening to deafen him.  
  
"I never said you smelt bad. It's intoxicating. I'm sorry I crossed a boundary."  
  
"No wait, you smell good too. Weird conversation but never mind.Griss." With that they drove to the store to retrieve the lemons. Griss drove her to her apartment before driving himself how for a long cold shower. 


	3. Hot showers and Graduation photos

Disclaimer: As before I don't own them.  
  
Sara entered the shower stall after making sure the water was hot enough, as she squeezed the lemon juice over her hair. She closed her eyes and thought of the last few days she had spent with Grissom. It had been so long since she had been able to talk to him, now he seemed to be opening up to her again.  
  
She was almost done in the shower when she heard the phone. It was Grissom, the results were in on the DNA tests on the blood; there was a match. She quickly straightened her hair and got ready for work. He came to pick her up; she had left her car at work when they had gone to the body farm.  
  
"Hey, so what did it match to?" She asked him as soon as she opened the door. He raised his eyebrow questioningly.  
  
"What no 'Hello Grissom'?" He asked. She shook her head.  
  
"No. I want to know." She was impatient to find out what was happening with their case.  
  
"I will tell you when we get there. I asked the others to meet us in the break room. I think we should bring them in on this." With this he walked out of her apartment.  
  
The ride to headquarters was quiet and subdued. She was still slightly annoyed that he was making her wait till they got to work before he told her the results. They walked to the break room together. Cath was sitting next to Warrick and Nick was standing with Greg next to the coffee maker.  
  
"So what's up, Doc?" Greg asked, jovial as ever. Grissom frowned at this he never liked to be called that.  
  
"The blood we found all over the bathroom is related to the body we found in the desert. Female donor. Seven alleles in common. Mother, sister or daughter. Brass talked to neighbours who said she was quiet, never talked about herself. No mention of relatives. They didn't really seem that bothered about her being missing for over a week." He announced. Sara took all this in and wondered at the total lack of caring people seemed to have for one another.  
  
"So we Have Kirstie Atkin's body with no blood loss then we find a bathroom that had been painted with blood then washed off but no body. The donor is related to the first victim. So she had a mother, sister or daughter she didn't care to talk about." She reiterated.  
  
"Or didn't know about." She added.  
  
"Yeah she may have been adopted." Catherine stated  
  
"She may not have known about the daughter." Sara replied.  
  
"What? How can you not know if you have had a child?" Catherine asked.  
  
"Well, if she donated her ovum. The victim provided donor eggs to a couple who can't conceive, the husband provided the sperm." Grissom suggested.  
  
"The wife provided the oven." Nick chimes in, earning a glare from Sara.  
  
"Nice Nick, very smooth." Warrick commented.  
  
"So how do we find the second victim?" Catherine asks attempting to move the conversation on.  
  
"We could go to her work they may have a next of kin address. Or maybe an address book in the house?" Nick suggested.  
  
"You, Warrick and Catherine look into that. Sara, I have an idea we can follow up on." Grissom said, getting up to leave. Waiting for Sara at the door they then proceeded to walk to his office.  
  
"So, what's the plan for us then?" She asked once they had entered. He was trying to re-forge the friendship they once had.  
  
"Well there was a graduation photo on the wall over the mantelpiece so maybe she went to college. They may have contact details for parents or guardians. I thought we could look it up and if the others cannot make any progress we can try that avenue." He suggested, she smiled at this he was trying to approach this from all angles. They looked into her records and found that she had gone to UNLV. They made note of her major and went to wait for the others.  
  
Nick was first to arrive he had been tasked with extending the search of the neighbourhood for anyone who may have talked to the first Vic regularly. He filled them in whilst they waited for the others to finish their own tasks.  
  
"So the Vic rarely talked to anyone in the local neighbourhood and if she did it was only to give a polite greeting." He summarised. They concluded that if they were going to locate the identity of the second victim they were going to need Warrick and Catherine to come through or try the long shot of trying UNLV's records.  
  
Catherine and Warrick walked in together, an aura of frustration surrounding them. It was evident from the slump of their shoulders that their search had not proved to be fruitful. Warrick shook his head, he was marvelling at how some people could survive with little contact with others.  
  
"So this woman had no contacts in the address books or on the phone past her doctor, dentist, optician and work. How can anyone be so unsociable?" He asked.  
  
"Maybe she found it difficult to connect with people." Grissom suggested.  
  
"Yeah but Griss. Even if that is true you still have at least one friend, even if it is just a contact from work." Warrick countered. Grissom nodded in agreement.  
  
"Even me." He said smiling.  
  
"Hey man, I didn't mean to imply anything Griss." Grissom held up his hand.  
  
"It's ok Warrick, I was joking. I do it occasionally. You now know why I don't joke more often." Grissom said with a smile.  
  
"Riiiight. So we should try the alternative then?" Sara asked, her eyebrow rose at Grissom's attempt to be sociable.  
  
They explained to the others their last ditch attempt to find any known relatives of the first victim. After Grissom had called Brass to join them at the university campus they all headed over to the administration centre of the university. 


End file.
